“Concordia prepared me for my career by helping me master scheduling, prioritization and how to be more efficient.”
Until recently, the multi-billion-dollar Canadian property management industry was stubbornly attached to outdated analogue technology.
Raised by a family in the business, Jonathan Margel saw how many managers were still writing leases on paper, filling in rental ledgers by hand and standing in line to do their banking in person. He knew it was an industry ripe for digital disruption.
Just two years after studying at Concordia’s John Molson School of Business, Margel co-founded Building Stack, an online platform designed to streamline real estate management.
Following nearly a decade of steady growth, Margel says the pandemic created a surge in demand for property technology — or prop-tech as it’s called in the industry — to help managers stay on track while respecting social distancing and lockdowns.
A changing business
“Property management is a very old-school industry that has done business in a certain way for many, many years. With property managers looking for an online platform to organize, collect rent and communicate with tenants during the pandemic, the value of our technology has really been reinforced.
“Getting people to adopt new technologies is hard. It was even hard for me to convince my family, who are owners and managers of real estate. I’m excited that there’s been a shift.”
Building from the ground up
“After working as a property manager for a pretty big company in Montreal, I had a list of what could be improved. I sat down with my business partner, Pablo Menghini, who studied engineering at Concordia, and we started brainstorming how we could fix this industry.
“He had no experience in real estate or property management and I had no experience in product design, so working together was a great formula.”
On Concordia’s influence
“I think Concordia prepared me for my career by helping me master scheduling, prioritization and how to be more efficient. The skills needed for your educational career very much apply to being able to run your own business.”